{"id":5913,"date":"2026-10-19T14:15:52","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T12:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/?p=5913"},"modified":"2026-10-19T14:15:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T12:15:53","slug":"an-agrotecnio-project-brings-leishmaniasis-prevention-to-children-and-young-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/an-agrotecnio-project-brings-leishmaniasis-prevention-to-children-and-young-people\/","title":{"rendered":"An Agrotecnio project brings leishmaniasis prevention to children and young people"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“North and South: Science for prevencion” combines science, theatre and educational games to explain how social and economic inequalities shapre health.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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How can we explain to children and young people why the same disease can have very different consequences depending on where people live? This is one of the questions raised by \u201cNorth and South: Science for Prevention\u201d, a project led by Agrotecnio that aims to bring scientific knowledge about leishmaniasis into the classroom and encourage reflection on health inequalities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coordinated by Dr Diana Gass\u00f3, a professor at the University of Lleida (UdL) and an Agrotecnio researcher, the initiative builds on a research and cooperation experience in Karamoja, in northeastern Uganda. It brings lessons learned in the field into educational settings in Catalonia, the Valencian Community and Andorra. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project combines scientific content with theatre, games and other educational resources to explain how vector-borne diseases are transmitted, which environmental and social factors influence health, and why access to prevention and treatment varies around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From research to the classroom<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative originated in 2024, following an intervention by the Andorran veterinary NGO Daktari in the Karamoja region, one of the areas affected by visceral leishmaniasis in East Africa. In response to the need for more scientific evidence on the disease in this area, four researchers involved in the project conducted fieldwork stays in January 2025 and January 2026, funded by the University of Lleida\u2019s Cooperation and Solidarity Unit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During these stays, the team studied leishmaniasis vectors, compared different methods for trapping sand flies\u2014the insects that transmit the parasite responsible for the disease\u2014and investigated the role of animals in its transmission. The methods assessed included a low-cost trap developed as part of the FleboCollect project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project now aims to draw on this experience to bring science into schools and encourage reflection on the relationship between health, the environment and living conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Educational kits that make learning fun<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To achieve this, three travelling educational kits will be created, tailored to the educational contexts of Catalonia, the Valencian Community and Andorra. The materials will be based on resources used in Uganda and developed with the involvement of researchers and professionals from the education and arts sectors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The kits will include a puppet theatre performance, sand fly specimens, magnifying glasses, educational games, audiovisual resources and teachers\u2019 guides. A storybook will also be translated into Catalan and published, with 500 copies planned, so that children can share what they have learned with their families. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The activities will incorporate approaches such as game-based learning, with the aim of ensuring that students are not merely recipients of information but actively participate in the learning process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pilot project will also have an intergenerational dimension. Secondary school students and pupils in the final years of primary education will prepare theatrical performances and science outreach activities to share their knowledge with younger children and older people. In this way, students will learn about the disease while also becoming ambassadors for scientific knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One disease, unequal consequences<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visceral leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease that can be fatal if left untreated. In Karamoja, it particularly affects children and pastoralist communities, who often face difficulties accessing healthcare services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reality will provide a starting point for exploring a question that goes beyond the disease itself: how do social, economic and environmental conditions influence people’s ability to prevent and treat it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The activities will also introduce the concept of One Health, which recognises human, animal and environmental health as interconnected dimensions. The relationship between climate change and vector-borne diseases will also be explored, as rising temperatures can favour the spread of certain insects into areas where they were previously less common. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project is expected to run for 18 months. To assess its results, students\u2019 knowledge will be compared before and after the activities, and qualitative feedback on the educational experience will be collected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ultimate aim is to develop educational materials and teaching guides that can be reused in other schools once the pilot project has ended. The storybook and digital resources will also help ensure the initiative continues and reaches a wider audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“North and South: Science for prevencion” combines science, theatre and educational games to explain how social and economic inequalities shapre health. How can we explain to children and young people why the same disease can have very different consequences depending on where people live? This is one of the questions raised by \u201cNorth and South: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5914,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5913"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5916,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5913\/revisions\/5916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrotecnio.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}